Eager Expectation
And reach at last the distant promis'd seat,Casting the glowing landscape at our feetOft had the Morning Rose with dew been wet,And oft the journeying Sun in glory set,Beyond the willow'd meads of vigorous grass,The steep green hill, and woods they were to pass;When now: the day arriv'd: Impatience reign'd;And GEORGE,--by trifling obstacles detain'd--His bending Blackthorn on the threshold prest,Survey'd the windward clouds, and hop'd the best.PHOEBE, attir'd with every modest grace,While Health and Beauty revell'd in her face,Came forth; but soon evinc'd an absent mind,For, back she turn'd for something left behind;Again the same, till George grew tir'd of home,And peevishly exclaim'd, 'Come, Phoebe, come.'Another hindrance yet he had to feel:As from the door they tripp'd with nimble heel,
Words in this poem
- prest a.
- Ready; prompt; prepared. [OF. prest, F. prêt, fr. L. praestus ready. Cf. Presto.]
- phoebe n.
- The pewee, or pewit.
- peevishly adv.
- In a peevish manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eager Expectation is in the public domain. This text is taken from Rural Tales, Ballads, and Songs, Project Gutenberg ebook #9093; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Bloomfield, Eager Expectation, in Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs (1802), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9093, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bloomfield-tales/eager-expectation.html, id L09694.
Form and metre
Eager Expectation is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII seatA · feetA · wetB · setB · grassC · passC · reign'dD · detain'dD · prestE · bestE · graceF · faceF · mindG · behindG · homeH · comeH · feelI · heelI
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| And reach at last the distant promis'd seat, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Casting the glowing landscape at our feet | 10 | /˘·/˘/··/· |
| Oft had the Morning Rose with dew been wet, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And oft the journeying Sun in glory set, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Beyond the willow'd meads of vigorous grass, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The steep green hill, and woods they were to pass; | 10 | ·········· |
| When now: the day arriv'd: Impatience reign'd; | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| And GEORGE,--by trifling obstacles detain'd-- | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| His bending Blackthorn on the threshold prest, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/·· |
| Survey'd the windward clouds, and hop'd the best. | 10 | ˘/·/˘····· |
| PHOEBE, attir'd with every modest grace, | 10 | /˘˘/·/˘/˘· |
| While Health and Beauty revell'd in her face, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Came forth; but soon evinc'd an absent mind, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| For, back she turn'd for something left behind; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Again the same, till George grew tir'd of home, | 10 | ˘/·····/·· |
| And peevishly exclaim'd, 'Come, Phoebe, come.' | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘· |
| Another hindrance yet he had to feel: | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| As from the door they tripp'd with nimble heel, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.